Director of Elections for Richland County Paulette Hankins said, By a Directive from the Secretary of State and the Ohio Director of Health, and in consultation with our County Prosecutor, the Primary Election scheduled for March 17th, 2020 is being suspended. We sincerely apologize for all the confusion Monday evening, and thank you for your patience. We will be communicating with you more in the near future as we get more information.
This comes after a Franklin County Court of Common Pleas judge had declined to order the postponement of Ohio’s 2020 primary election earlier on Monday.
In a press conference Monday afternoon, Governor Mike DeWine recommended in-person voting be delayed until June 2 with absentee voting continuing until that day. Since the governor has no power to delay the election absent an invasion, a lawsuit was filed by another party to delay the election.